Sandwich - The 'Completest Medieval Town in England' : A Study of the Town and Port From Its Origins to 1600

To the casual visitor of today, Sandwich appears as simply a small inland market town on the bank of a modest river. But locals and historians have long known that in the Middle Ages it was a strategic and commercial seaport of great significance, trading with northern Europe and the Mediterranean and growing prosperous on this business. The medieval fabric of the town has been preserved to a remarkable extent, but historians and archaeologists have never agreed on quite where the first settlement was located. Nor has there been close study of what the surviving medieval buildings can tell us about Sandwich's development. It is the physical development of Sandwich that forms the focus of this volume, providing new theories on how, when and why the town came to take its present form. As well as providing a great amount of detail on the houses, churches and defences of medieval Sandwich, the authors apply the material evidence in order to draw out important social, economic and cultural facets in the evolution of the town. The study of Sandwich also has much wider implications, as despite being largely affected by its location, it also shared much with other English medieval towns in terms of its physical growth and the role of its major institutions. The story of the town, therefore, is both particular and general, and this detailed study gives new insights into the influences affecting urban development, both in the formative period of growth and in later periods in which towns adapted to new circumstances. The method presented here could therefore, be equally applicable to studies of other medieval towns. Maps, plans and photographs, all in full colour, supplement the text and graphically underline many of the conclusions. "Sandwich was once one of the great ports of medieval England. It possessed the special privileges of a Cinque Port, was strategically placed to serve successive monarchs as a military and naval base for their overseas expeditions, and its trading activities extended far and wide. The town still displays signs of those prosperous centuries: an unchanged street plan, a virtually intact circuit of town walls, three parish churches, parts of three hospitals and an exceptionally large number of well-preserved medieval houses." "Evidence from standing structures, the archaeological record, and extensive documentary sources has been combined to trace Sandwich's development through the ages. New light has been shed on the location of the earliest settlement, the changes to the harbour and anchorage, the reasons for the unusual street pattern, and the relationship between town and royal castle. A survey of almost one hundred medieval houses brings out their urban form, and in conjunction with documents illustrates the different character of individual parts of the town and conjures up the material circumstances in which the inhabitants lived." "Although this is a book about a single town, it has a wider appeal. Combining the evidence from buildings, historical sources and archaeology has here resulted in a fuller picture than could have been obtained by using any one discipline alone. It is a method that could be equally rewarding in studies of other medieval towns."--Jacket Cover 1 Foreword 10 Acknowledgements 11 Summary 13 Résumé 14 Zusammenfassung 15 List of Figures 16 List of Tables 19 Chapter 1: Background to the Sandwich project 20 Chapter 2: Environmental background and origins 30 Chapter 3: Sandwich in the eleventh century: the establishment of the medieval town 42 Chapter 4: Sandwich in the twelfth century: the growth of an urban society 59 Part III : 1200–1360--Introduction 74 Chapter 5: The port and town: consolidation and outside influences 77 Chapter 6: Religious buildings 95 Chapter 7: Secular buildings 112 Chapter 8: The topography of the town by the mid-fourteenth century 131 Part IV: 1360–1560--Introduction 138 Chapter 9: Trade and the haven 140 Chapter 10: The life of the town 150 Chapter 11: War, rebellion and defence 165 Chapter 12: Secular buildings 183 Chapter 13: Churches and hospitals 218 Chapter 14: The landscape of the town 233 Chapter 15: The town 247 Chapter 16: The buildings 259 Chapter 17: Sandwich in the context of wider studies of historic towns: an assessment 284 Appendix 1: Sandwich archaeological sites, 1929–2007 292 Appendix 2: Sandwich houses that appear on the maps 296 Notes 300 References and abbreviations 322 Index 336

To the casual visitor of today, Sandwich appears as simply a small inland market town on the bank of a modest river. But locals and historians have long known that in the Middle Ages it was a strategic and commercial seaport of great significance, trading with northern Europe and the Mediterranean and growing prosperous on this business. The medieval fabric of the town has been preserved to a remarkable extent, but historians and archaeologists have never agreed on quite where the first settlement was located. Nor has there been close study of what the surviving medieval buildings can tell us about Sandwich's development. As well as providing a great amount of detail on the houses, churches and defences of medieval Sandwich, the authors apply the material evidence in order to draw out important social, economic and cultural facets in the evolution of the town. Maps, plans and photographs, all in full colour, supplement the text and graphically underline many of the conclusions.